**ASUS Zephyrus Duo 15 Gaming Laptop Review**

The ASUS Zephyrus Duo 15 is a unique gaming laptop that features a dual-screen design with a secondary touchscreen on the bottom. This custom design raises the bottom screen, allowing for a more immersive gaming experience. The laptop also boasts impressive specs, including an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super graphics card and up to 16GB of soldered memory.

**Gaming Performance**

The Zephyrus Duo 15 has been put through a series of gaming benchmarks, with results showing excellent performance even with the second screen enabled. In games like Heaven and Valley from Unigine, as well as Firestrike and Timespy from 3DMark, the laptop performs admirably. However, in Adobe Premiere, the laptop is on top, scoring the best export time out of all machines tested.

**Benchmarking Tools**

To test the Zephyrus Duo 15's performance, I used a range of benchmarking tools, including Heaven, Valley, and Superposition from Unigine, as well as Firestrike, Timespy, and Port Royal from 3DMark. The laptop also performed well in Adobe Photoshop, scoring nicely in both stock and the Puget Systems DaVinci Resolve test. Additionally, I tested SPECviewperf, which tests out various professional 3D workloads, and found that the Zephyrus Duo 15 was one of the better options.

**VR Capabilities**

The Zephyrus Duo 15 also features the high-end GPU required for VR gaming, making it an excellent option for those looking to play games on their laptop. I tested the OpenVR benchmark with the HTC Vive Cosmos Elite and found that the laptop performed well without any issues.

**Storage Performance**

To test the storage performance of the Zephyrus Duo 15, I used Crystal Disk Mark and found that the 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD was performing quite well.

**Pricing and Availability**

The price of the Zephyrus Duo 15 varies depending on the specs chosen, but at the time of recording, in the US, we're looking at $3000 USD for the lower specced model with an i7 processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 graphics. For the specs I've tested here, which include an i9 processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super graphics, the price is $3600.

In Australia, we're looking at around $6000 AUD for the same specs I've tested, or $5200 AUD for the lower specced model. This makes it a significant investment, but one that could be worth it for those who want a high-end gaming laptop with advanced features like dual screens.

**Conclusion**

The ASUS Zephyrus Duo 15 is a unique gaming laptop that offers an immersive gaming experience with its dual-screen design. While the price may be steep, the performance and capabilities of this laptop make it an excellent option for serious gamers. However, whether or not the second screen will benefit you depends on how much you'll use it in games themselves.

Additionally, there are some trade-offs to consider, including soldered WiFi, 16GB of soldered memory, no camera, and a keyboard and touchpad placement that may not appeal to everyone. It's also worth noting that game developers are working with ASUS to make dual screens more accessible in games, so we'll have to wait and see how this develops.

Ultimately, the decision to purchase the Zephyrus Duo 15 comes down to how much you'll benefit from the addition of the second touchscreen and how important those other aspects are to you. If you're new to the channel, be sure to subscribe for future laptop reviews like this one.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enThis gaming laptop has two screens, but arethey actually useful?This is the ASUS Zephyrus Duo 15, a powerfulmachine with some unique features, I’lltell you everything you need to know aboutit in this detailed review.I’m testing the highest specced configurationhere, but the Duo 15 is available with somedifferent specs, you can see examples andcheck updated prices with the links in thedescription.What makes the Duo 15 unique is that it hastwo screens, now ASUS have done this beforeon the ZenBook Pro Duo, but this time thebottom screen automatically tilts up by 13degrees when you open the laptop, giving youa better viewing angle.The main panel up top is a 15.6” 1080p 300Hzpanel with G-Sync, so good gaming panel specs,but no touch screen.The screen below, which they call screenpadplus, is a 14.1” touch screen.We’re given the option to swap between Optimusor discrete GPU only through software, andthis requires a reboot to complete, no advancedoptimus here.The second screen is just seen by Windowsas another display below the first one, justlike dual monitors.This means you can simply drag whatever windowsyou like to the second screen.The installed Screen Xpert software furtheraids this by offering shortcuts which appearwhen you start moving a window.These allow you to quickly move a window tothe opposite screen, pin an app to the screenpadshortcuts to easily open later, or make theapp go full screen over both screens.Otherwise there’s an arrow icon you canpress to bring up all the screenpad options.From in here, you can set program shortcuts,change brightness, swap windows between thetwo screens, show the apps currently on thebottom screen, and optionally disable thekeyboard which may be useful for resting yourpalm on the keyboard to draw.Game support will vary, by default runninga game in full screen mode won’t let youeasily move the mouse into the second screenso you’ll need to use something else likeborderless mode, otherwise clicking out ofthe window will be similar to an alt tab.Basically like I mentioned in the ZenBookPro Duo review, if the game doesn’t letyou have separate Windows then it might lookweird just setting it to use both screens.Somes games like dying light 2 will apparentlyhave support for it, but I don’t have thatcurrently, otherwise your best bet is to usethe second screen for other apps like chat.Other workloads like streaming would alsosee a benefit as you can just see more thingsat once with a game taking up the main display.Outside of gaming, for things like video editingsoftware you can arrange it quite nicely.The resolution of the screenpad is quite high,however by default it runs lower so that itproperly aligns with the top screen in Windows,but this would be less of an issue if yougot the 4K screen option.I’ve tested the screens with the Spyder5, and for the main panel got 98% of sRGB,76% of AdobeRGB and DCI-P3, and 70% of NTSC.The results for the screenpad were actuallya little better in terms of colour gamut.The main panel got to 282 nits at 100% brightness,so not quite the 300 or so I’d like to seebut not too far off, meanwhile the bottomscreen was brighter.The optional 4K screen apparently has 100%of AdobeRGB, so could be worth consideringfor creators.The main panel has overdrive enabled by default,and I measured a 3.8ms grey-to-grey responsetime, and it’s one of the better resultswhen we look at how it compares against otherlaptops.ASUS do give us the option of disabling overdrive,which removes overshoot and undershoot, thoughthis boosts the response time up to 7.2ms.Not that I expect anyone to do serious gamingon the smaller second screen, but we’relooking at a 19ms response time there.Now I did see some strange behaviour withoverdrive enabled in optimus mode, many ofthe transitions were the same as having overdrivediabled.Basically it seemed like overdrive was onlyrandomly working.I think this is a bug which will hopefullybe fixed, but using overdrive mode with optimusdisabled worked fine, and this is how you’dwant to play for best performance anyway.When looking for backlight bleed in this worstcase it looked a bit patchy, but I never noticedthis during normal use, though it will varybetween panels.That’s a lot of information on the screens,let’s check out the rest.The lid has a clean metal finish with mirroredROG logo.The interior is also metal around the keyboard,and overall the build quality feels quitedecent, no sharp corners or edges anywhere.The weight is listed at 2.4kg, though minewas 2.5kg.With the 240 watt power brick and cables forcharging included we’re looking at almost3.3kg or 7.2lb.The Duo 15 isn’t too big for a 15 inch gaminglaptop, especially considering the specs thatit’s packing inside.We’re looking at 9mm screen bezels on thesides, though the bottom chin is larger.There was some screen flex when intentionallypushing it, but it seemed minor and was nevernoticeable during normal use.The screenpad was quite sturdy, I tried pushingdown harder than you ever normally would andit was quite solid towards the edges, justa little flex in the center, which makes senseas the metal poles holding it up are out towardsthe edges.No problems opening it up with one finger,it did feel more back heavy but stable onmy lap.Like some other recent laptops from ASUS,there’s no camera built in.Although there’s no camera, it does stillhave microphones, and this is what they soundlike.In order to have the second screen, the keyboardis right down the front of the machine.ASUS have done this with other Zephyrus laptopsin the past, and I think it’s fine so longas you have the desk space as you need toput the machine back a bit further to typenormally, though doing so does mean the screenis a bit further away too.It comes with an optional wrist rest as well.If you use it on your lap, it can feel a bitawkward unless you push it further back, otherwiseyou end up needing to hold your arms too farback to type.The chiclet keyboard has per key RGB backlightingwhich unfortunately does not illuminate everything,the function keys are only partially lit whichI did find annoying at times.There are three levels of key brightness whichcan either be adjusted with the function andarrow keys, or through the included Aura Creatorsoftware.I didn’t have any issues typing with it,it’s got 1.4mm of key travel and I’llgive you a listen to how it sounds to getan idea of what to expect.Due to the keyboard placement, the precisiontouchpad has been crammed over to the right.You can hold the top left corner to activenumpad mode, but unfortunately unlike otherlaptops from ASUS, in this mode you’re notable to use it as a touchpad until you disableit.As it doesn’t physically press down, thereare instead two left and right click buttonsunderneath, and after some use you do getused to it, but I’d definitely stick toa mouse where possible.The buttons above the touchpad from left toright are shortcuts to open the ASUS Armourcrate software to manage the system, a buttonto turn the bottom screen on or off, a buttonto turn the arrow keys into page up/down/home/endkeys, and the power button.Fingerprints show up on the lid but aren’tsuper obvious, however they were a littlehard to clean with a microfiber cloth.Inside we only really see them on the touchscreen,but that was easy to clean.On the left from the back there’s an airexhaust vent, then closer to the front thepower input, and 3.5mm mic and headphone jacks.I didn’t have an issue with the power cablebeing closer to the front, it didn’t blockany I/O or vents.On the right from the front we’ve got twoUSB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports, USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-Cport with DisplayPort 1.4 and Thunderbolt3 support, followed by another air exhaust.The back has more air exhausts towards thecorners, then from left to right, gigabitethernet facing the preferred way, USB 3.2Gen2 Type-A port, and HDMI 2.0b output.The front is clean and just has a groove forgetting your finger into.I confirmed that both the HDMI and Type-CDisplayPort outputs were connected directlyto the Nvidia graphics, which makes sensegiven we can disable Optimus anyway.Underneath there are some air intake ventsabove the fans towards the back.I also noticed that the rear feet were a bittaller when compared to others, so that shouldhelp airflow.Getting inside was easy, you remove 14 TR5screws of same length, then there’s a singlephillips head screw down the front right whichdoes not remove and props the base panel up.Inside we’ve got the battery down the bottomand two M.2 slots next to that, WiFi 6 issoldered and cannot be upgraded.There’s 16gb of memory soldered to the motherboardtoo, but as long as you have a stick installedin the single slot like I have here, it willrun in dual channel.You can install a 32gb stick for a total of48gb.Interestingly this is the first Intel 10thgen laptop I’ve tested that runs the memoryat DDR4-3200 speed.The two four watt speakers are found towardsthe front to the left and right.They sounded ok with a little bass, nothingimpressive, but they sounded way louder tome in person than what I was measuring atmaximum, and the latencymon results were lookinggood.Speaking of sounds, by default it plays thisone on boot.Fortunately you can disable it through softwareor the BIOS.The Duo 15 is powered by a 90Wh battery.When you unplug, the screen fill briefly goblack while it automatically changes the refreshrate from 300Hz down to 60Hz, which will helpimprove battery life.I’ve tested with the screen brightness at50%, background apps disabled and RGB lightingoff.I’ve tested a few different configurations,with and without optimus, and with and withoutthe second screen.As you’d expect, the battery drains quickerwith both screens in use, or far quicker withoutoptimus.Here’s how it stacks up when compared toother laptops, and I’m comparing with bothscreens on as that’s likely how people buyingthis machine will probably use it.The Duo 15 also supports Type-C charging,so you can use a smaller power source or batterywhen travelling instead of the larger andheavier 240 watt brick, just don’t expectfull performance in resource heavy workloads.Let’s check out thermals next, this willbe more of a summary as I’ve got a fulldetailed video covering thermal performancelinked in the description.The Armoury Crate software lets you selectbetween different performance modes, whichfrom lowest to highest are silent, performanceand turbo.There’s also manual mode which is requiredif you want to set the fans to maximum speed,and it also applies a GPU overclock too.Any time I’ve tested in manual mode, I’musing full fan speed.As my model has an unlocked HK processor,undervolting is possible.Thermals were tested with a 21 degree Celsiusambient room temperature.Idle results down the bottom were ok.Worst case stress tests were done with theAida64 CPU stress test with CPU only checkedand the Heaven benchmark at the same time,while gaming was done with Watch Dogs 2.The temperatures were actually very good giventhe specs at stock and remained under 90 degrees.I only saw thermal throttling on the CPU at95 degrees if we manually modify the powerlimit to get some extra performance, so theseworst case results don’t represent out ofthe box behaviour, consider them more inlinewith an enthusiast modification.Looking at the clock speeds though we getquite a nice boost to processor performanceby raising that power limit, so you’ve gotthe choice of running hotter for more performance,or running a bit slower to maintain a coolermachine.It’s good to have options as it will alwaysbe a trade off between temperatures and performance.The decent temperatures are clearly a resultof the 45 watt power limit to the processorwhen under combined CPU plus GPU load, butagain we can boost that.The GPU runs at 90 watts in these combinedworkloads, but in a GPU heavy test with theCPU idle it can boost up to 100 watts thanksto dynamic boost, more on that later.If we look at CPU only performance with theGPU idle though, the 45 watt cap only existsin the weakest silent mode, it would doublein turbo mode which is great to see as toomany laptops cap this lower.This results in a 4GHz speed being hit inthis stress test over all 8 cores, and asexpected more power does equal more heat.Here’s how the Duo 15 performs in Cinebench,so some pretty decent results owing to thehigher power limits in turbo and manual modes.When we look at how it compares against otherlaptops, although it is the best score I’veseen from a 10980HK so far, it’s worth notingthe far cheaper Eluktronics RP-15 with Ryzen7 4800H is beating it in multicore.External temperatures don’t get hot, justa bit warm towards the back of the keyboard.The screen doesn’t really heat up as it’selevated above the heat generating components,plus cool air is pulled in behind it - let’shave a listen to fan noise.The fans were just audible at idle, thoughit did get quite loud at max settings, butat least there are options with some levelof user control in manual mode.Silent and performance modes were on the quietersides while still allowing for decent performancein games, however in silent mode I did findthe bottom of the machine would get fairlyhot as a result of the quieter fan speeds,so you’ll definitely want to use it on adesk if you plan on using this option.Let’s also take a look at how the Duo 15compares with other laptops in games.I’ve tested with manual mode and optimusdisabled for best results.In Battlefield 5 I’ve got the Zephyrus highlightedin red.It’s giving one of the best results I’veseen in this game, only coming in behind themuch higher wattage 2080 Super Max-P in theMSI GE75, though the difference isn’t toomajor in a practical sense, and the 1% lowwas actually better with the Duo 15.These are the results from Far Cry 5 withultra settings in the built in benchmark.This time the Duo 15 was performing the bestout of this selection of laptops, it wouldonly get beaten by much thicker machines withthe 9900K, so another good result.In Shadow of the Tomb Raider the Duo 15 isagain doing much better compared to otherlaptops.It’s interesting that it’s beating thehigher wattage 150 watt 2080 Super in theGE75 just below it, though the Duo 15 doeshave faster memory and the option of disablingoptimus.If you’re after more gaming benchmarks checkthe card in the top right corner or link inthe description where I’ve tested 21 gamesin total on this machine.By default, the Duo 15 has Nvidia’s Max-QDynamic Boost enabled, which boosts the powerlimit of the 2080 Super graphics higher whenthe CPU isn’t as active, allowing for increasedperformance in GPU heavy workloads, such asgaming.All testing in this video has been done withthis enabled, but here’s what we’re lookingat in a game with it on in the purple bars,and off in the red bars.At most setting levels it seems to be havinga positive effect, but let me know if youwant to see a big game comparison betweenthese modes.Now for the benchmarking tools, I’ve testedHeaven, Valley, and Superposition from Unigine,as well as Firestrike, Timespy and Port Royalfrom 3DMark, just pause the video if you wanta detailed look at these results.I’ve used Adobe Premiere to export one ofmy laptop review videos at 4K, and the Duo15 with these specs was one of the fastestI’ve tested.I’ve also tested Premiere but with the Pugetsystems benchmark which also accounts forthings like live playback rather than justexport times, and again the Duo 15 was oneof the better options.In Adobe Photoshop now the Duo 15 is on top,scoring the best in this test out of all machinestested.As a test that prefers CPU performance, itmakes sense as the i9 is able to run witha 90 watt PL1 in CPU only workloads, whichis higher than others I’ve tested at stock.It was scoring nicely in the Puget SystemsDaVinci Resolve test too.I’ve also tested SPECviewperf which testsout various professional 3D workloads.I’ve used the OpenVR benchmark to test theHTC Vive Cosmos Elite, and due to the highGPU power we’re again seeing one of thebetter results, definitely no problems runningVR here.I’ve used Crystal Disk Mark to test thestorage, and the 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD was performingquite well.For updated pricing, check the links in thedescription, as prices will change over time.At the time of recording, in the US we’relooking at $3000 USD for the lower speccedmodel with i7 and 2070 graphics, or $3600for the specs I’ve tested here, grantedthis one seems to have a 4K screen instead.Here in Australia we’re looking at around$6000 AUD for the same specs I’ve testedhere, or $5200 AUD for the lower specced model,so definitely quite an expensive gaming laptop.Alright with all of that in mind, let’sconclude by summarising the good and bad aspectsof the ASUS Zephyrus Duo 15 gaming laptopto help you decide if it’s worth it.There’s no doubt that the Duo 15 has a uniquedesign, while ASUS have done dual screenedlaptops in the past I believe this is thefirst one that raises the bottom screen, andas a result this custom design definitelyhas a price premium attached.You could likely save money on a cheaper laptopand just connect an external screen whichis worth a couple hundred dollars, thoughthat would take more space and is an extrapart to take with you.I think it really comes down to how much you’llbenefit by having the second screen as partof the same machine.I also want to see more game support to beable to use both screens well in games themselves,yeah it’s still cool to show other thingslike chat or OBS while playing, but to havemore games natively support it would be ahuge step forward for this soft of form factor.I believe ASUS are working with game developersto make this happen in some titles, so we’llhave to wait and see.Second screen aside, at stock the machinedoesn’t run hot and the performance is excellent,though there are a few trade offs.These included soldered WiFi, 16gb of solderedmemory, no camera, and the keyboard and touchpadplacement.It’s definitely an interesting design, butyeah it just depends how much you’ll benefitfrom the addition of the second touchscreenand how important those other aspects areto you, and of course how much you’re willingto spend, because this thing is not cheap.Let me know what you thought about the ASUSZephyrus Duo 15 gaming laptop down in thecomments, are dual screens something you’dneed in a mobile form factor? and if you’renew to the channel get subscribed for futurelaptop reviews like this one.\n"